SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE

control larvae excreted faeces as loose

particles without membranous structure
(Figure 3). Microscopic examination revealed that the non-cellular membranous
structure was suspected to be the peritropic
membrane (PM). It has been documented
that the root extract of Derris affects
peritropic matrix structure of A. aegypti13.
It has been recognized that the PM separates food from epithelial cells of the gut
involved in digestion and absorption of
nutrients from the gut lumen, and acts as
a protective barrier against various chemical,
physical and microbial food components14.
It may be argued from our results that
the C. inerme powder taken by the larvae
along with other food materials caused
damage to the PM and subsequently affected
the process of digestion and absorption.
Disruption of growth of the larvae to pupae
observed in this study may be the result
of disturbances in the digestive process,
which led to inadequate supply of nutrition to the larvae.

1. Green, M. M., Singer, J. M., Sutherland,

D. J. and Hibben, C. R., J. Am. Mosq.
Control Assoc., 1991, 2, 282286.
2. Sukumar, K., Perich, M. J. and Boobar,
L. R., J. Am. Mosq. Control Assoc., 1991,
7, 210237.
3. Perich, M. J., Carl, W., Wolf-gang, B.
and Tredway, K. E., J. Med. Entomol.,
1994, 31, 833837.
4. Pathak, N., Mittal, P. K., Singh, O. P.,
Vidyasagar, D. and Vasudevan, P., Insect
Pest Control, 2000, 46, 5355.
5. Patterson, B. D., Wahba Khalh, S. K.,
Schermeister, L. J. and Quraishi, M. S.,
Lloydia, 1975, 391403.
6. Mittal, P. K., Adak, T. and Sharma, V.
P., Pestic. Res. J., 1995, 7, 35.
7. Mulla, M. S. and Su, T., J. Am. Mosq.
Control Assoc., 1999, 15, 133.
8. Aliero, B. L., Afr. J. Biotechnol., 2003,
2, 325327.
9. Zebitz, C. P. W., Entomol. Exp. Appl.,
1984, 35, 1116.
10. Kalyanasundaram, M. and Das, P. K.,
Indian J. Med. Res., 1985, 82, 1923.

11. Finney, D. J., Probit Analysis, Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge, 1971, III edn.
12. Pereira, J. and Gurudutt, K. N., J. Chem.
Ecol., 1990, 16, 22972306.
13. Gusmao, D. S., Pasco, V., Mathias, L.,
Vieira, I. J. C., Braz-Filho, R. and Lemos,
F. J. A., Mem. Inst. Oswal. Do. Cruz.,
2002, 97, 371375.
14. Peters, W., Zoophysiology, SpringerVerlag, Berlin, 1992, vol. 30, p. 238.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Financial assistance
provided by UGC, New Delhi is acknowledged.
Received 15 February 2005; revised accepted
10 December 2005

P. B. PATIL
S. N. HOLIHOSUR*
V. L. KALLAPUR
Department of Zoology,
Karnatak University,
Dharwad 580 003, India
*For correspondence.
e-mail: holihosur_shank13@rediffmail.com

Effects of the 2005 Muzaffarabad (Kashmir) earthquake on built

environment
Studying the effects of earthquakes has
long been recognized as a necessary step
to understand the natural hazard and its
risk to the society in the long term. A
rapid assessment of general damage survey
and documentation of initial important
observations, not only help management
of emergency response and rehabilitation
activities, but also help to assess the need
of follow-up areas of research1,2. The
Muzaffarabad earthquake of 8 October
2005 which caused major devastation on
both sides of the Line of Control (LoC)
in Kashmir, presented another opportunity
to further our understanding of earthquake
risk in the region.
The Mw 7.6 earthquake on 8 October
2005 was a major earthquake at a depth
of 26 km from the surface with its epicentre located at 34.493N, 73.629E,
19 km northeast from Muzaffarabad, the
capital town of the Pakistan Occupied
Kashmir (POK) and 170 km west-northwest of Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India
(USGS). The event which was similar in
magnitude to the 2001 Gujarat earthquake
and the 1935 Quetta earthquake caused
1066

widespread destruction in POK, Pakistans North-West Frontier Province

(NWFP), and western and southern parts
of the Kashmir on the Indian side of
LoC. This earthquake is associated with
the known subduction zone of active
thrust fault along the Himalayan mountain ranges in the area where the Eurasian
and Indian tectonic plates are colliding
and moving northward at a rate of 40 mm/yr
(Figure 1).
The worst affected major towns on the
Indian side of LoC are Tangadhar in Kupwara district and Uri in Baramulla district. Significant damages have also been
reported from the Poonch and Rajouri
district further south from the epicentre
on the Indian side of LoC. During the reconnaissance survey we visited places
along National Highway NH1A during
1419 October 2005 from Srinagar to Uri
and along Sopore, Durgwilla, Kupwara,
Traigaon on the road to Tangdhar.
Damage to buildings and other structures in general agreed well with the intensity of ground shaking observed at
various places, with the maximum of

VIII at Uri, VII at Baramulla and Kupwara

and V at Srinagar on MSK scale3. However, the collapse of stone walls of random
rubble types was a surprise even with
much lesser shaking. It has been well established that the local soil site and topographical conditions play a significant
role in modifying the nature of ground
motion which leads to varying degree of
response to similar structures. Structures
located on ridges and along steep slopes
were subjected to a greater degree of
damage in comparison to those located in
valleys, during this earthquake as well.
The affected region lies in the top two
high risk seismic zones of IV and V of
Indian seismic code IS:1893 (ref. 4) with
an expected intensity of IX or more in
the zone V and of VIII in the zone IV.
The region affected by the Muzaffarabad earthquake is mountainous terrain
where the settlement is dense in valleys
and sparse on hill slopes. Major civil engineering projects in the area are highways, bridges, small dams and micro
hydro-electric projects and a few RC framed
buildings. The housing units are largely

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 90, NO. 8, 25 APRIL 2006

SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE
low rise brick and stone masonry load
bearing types often in association with
timber. The diaphragms vary from pitched
flexible roofs to mixed flexible and rigid
concrete floors and roofs.
Structures need to have suitable earthquake-resistant features to safely resist
large lateral forces that are imposed on
them during infrequent earthquakes. Ordinary structures for houses are usually
built to safely carry their own weight and
low lateral loads caused by wind and
therefore, perform poorly under large
lateral forces caused by even moderate
size earthquakes.
The majority of buildings in the affected
region use the unreinforced masonry
walls as bearing and enclosure walls.
These masonry structures can be viewed
as box-type structures in which the pri-

mary lateral resistance against the earthquake forces is provided by the membrane
action of the diaphragms (floors and
roofs) and bearing walls. The seismic
performance of load-bearing masonry
structures depends heavily on the structural characteristics (strength, stiffness
and ductility) of surrounding walls to resist
in-plane and out-of-plane inertia forces
and of the diaphragms (floors and roofs)
to not only safely resist the shear forces
but also to distribute the forces to vertical elements (walls) and maintain the integrity of the structure.
In Kashmir, traditional timberbrick
masonry construction consists of burnt
clay bricks filled in a framework of timber to create a patchwork of masonry,
which is confined in small panels by the
surrounding timber elements. The result-

Figure 1. Location of epicentre of the earthquake and its aftershocks, Main Central Thrust
fault, and the towns visited in the Indian side of Line of Control (LoC).
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 90, NO. 8, 25 APRIL 2006

ing masonry is quite different from typical brick masonry and their performance
in this earthquake has been once again
shown to be superior with no or very little damage. No collapse was observed in
such masonry even in the areas of higher
shaking. This timber-lacing of masonry,
which is locally referred as dhajji-dewari
(meaning patch quilt wall) has excellent
earthquake-resistant features. Presence of
timber studs, which subdivides the infill,
arrests the loss of the portion or all of
several masonry panels and resisted progressive destruction of the rest of the
wall (Figure 2). Moreover, the closely
spaced studs prevent propagation of diagonal shear cracks within any single
panel, and reduce the possibility of outof-plane failure of masonry of thin halfbrick walls even in higher stories and gable portion of the walls. Dhajji-dewari
system is often used for walls of upper
stories, especially for the gable portion
of the wall, even when the walls in bottom stories could be made of brick or
stone masonry (Figure 2 a).
In older constructions, another form of
timber-laced masonry, known as Taq has
been practiced in which large pieces of
wood have been used as horizontal runners embedded in the heavy masonry
walls, which add to the lateral load resisting ability of the structure (Figure
2 b). The concept of Dhajji-dewari has
also been extended to develop a mixed
construction in which stones are used as
filler hard material in wall panels created
by a series of piers in softer coursed brick
masonry of greater integrity under lateral
loads (Figure 2 c). The masonry walls
with stones confined in such a manner
have performed quite satisfactorily, in
contrast to usual brick or stone masonry.
In the upper reaches of North Kashmir
Himalayas, majority of houses use stone
masonry in mud mortar for walls and
flexible diaphragms for floors and roofs
consisting of timber. Stone masonry is
produced from a wide range of materials
and constructed in many different forms
that have shown varying degree of performance in this earthquake. Unreinforced
stone masonry is very durable even in the
hostile environment and can accommodate movements and resist natural forces
without becoming unstable and falling
apart, especially when they are laid in
even courses after proper dressing (Figure 3).
However, some forms of stone masonry,
especially Random Rubble (R/R) stone
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SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE
a

Figure 2. Traditional masonry for proven earthquake resistance. a, Dhajji-dewari system of timber laced masonry for confining masonry in small
panels; b, Taq system of embedding timber thick walls; c, Brick masonry piers for timbers in stone infilled wall.

b
a

Figure 3.

Examples of mixed construction involving dhajji-dewari and dressed/undressed stone masonry and brick masonry.

Figure 4.

masonry construction are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. Undressed stones

are laid in mud or cement mortar and
plastered in cement mortar to provide
finished surface. Most of government
buildings, hospitals, schools, jails, etc.,
1068

Out-of-plane collapse of stone masonry walls.

built during the last 4 to 5 decades suffered heavy damage especially when the
structure is old. This was primarily due
to the fact that the walls could not maintain their integrity during the shaking.
The collapsed walls of army buildings in

Uri and Kupwara are a few examples.

Such out-of-plane failures arising from
the dynamic instability of unsupported
walls were also evident in collapsed tall
slender end wall in brick masonry as well.
Moreover, masonry walls are weakened

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 90, NO. 8, 25 APRIL 2006

SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE
by openings for doors and windows (Figure 4).
Deficiencies of stone masonry walls
were more evident in R/R type masonry
and were responsible for the majority of
the observed damage in the earthquakeaffected areas. Such deficiencies can
render typical brick masonry buildings
vulnerable to damage as shown in Figure
5. However, timber-laced masonry can
maintain its integrity even when the supporting masonry walls in lower stories
are severely damaged (Figure 6).
Pitched roofs have been the most popular choice as a roofing system for build-

ings. However, there are many variants

of pitched roofs with varying degree of
seismic performance. In rural areas and
low cost houses, roofs are either composed of wooden joists and planks or
simple wooden trusses and rafters. In
government buildings, wooden planks
are placed on rafters to support the roof-

Figure 5. Damage to brick masonry buildings. a, Out-of-plane collapse of walls; b, Inplane failure of masonry walls in lower stories
and out-of-plane collapse at uppermost storey.

Figure 6. Timber-laced masonry in gable

wall suffered little damage whereas extensive
damage in stone masonry wall rendered the
building unsafe at Uri.

Figure 7. Failure of supporting walls for the

roof in a traditional building using Taq system
of masonry at Baramulla.

Figure 8. Simply supported prestressed concrete girder bridge on NH1A in Zone V which
lacks restrainers for preventing unseating during earthquakes.

Figure 9. Landslide on NH1A near Uri disrupted the road traffic.

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 90, NO. 8, 25 APRIL 2006

ing material. Corrugated Galvanized Iron

(CGI) sheets have also been used as a
roofing material in many cheaply built
school buildings. These roofs are inherently weak in shear and cannot tie the
walls together even when they are properly connected to them. Most of roof
failures can be attributed to a combination
of deficiencies such as loss of support of
roof trusses and rafters due to failure of
masonry walls and failure of roof truss
itself due to failure of joints and/or
members forming the truss or other roof
supporting structure (Figure 7).
The area has a number of highways and
pedestrian bridges over rivers, rivulets,
and gorges. No serious damage to any of
the highway bridges was noticed in the
areas visited away from the epicenter.
However, it has been reported that the
Aman Setu at India-Pak border closer to
the epicenter has suffered damage. Most
of pedestrian bridges were of suspension
types and no particular damage to the
bridge structure or to the supporting pylons was noticed. The affected region
which may experience ground shaking
more than IX on MSK scale, has a number of major bridges which are simply
supported prestressed concrete girder
type with inadequate seating or no provision to prevent unseating (Figure 8).
Roads closer to epicentral area in the
mountainous region suffered extensive
landslides which resulted in the closure
of traffic for many days (Figure 9). The
road to Tangadhar from Kupwara was
not open even a week after the quake.
Fissures on roads were noticed at places
which were primarily due to ground
movement across unstable slopes. Pipelines for drinking water supply broke at
several places causing severe hardships.
An overhead water tank on shaft supported
staging in Traigaon suffered circumferential flexure tension and shear cracking
which was empty at the time of earthquake (Figure 10). Such damages have
been observed in many past earthquakes
which highlight the inadequacy of current
design methods of such tanks.
The damage to built environment, economic loss and human casualties caused
by Himalayan earthquakes are increasing
rather proportionally with the growth of
settlements and population in its upper
reaches. Significant damage to residential,
community and government buildings
result from prevailing stone masonry
buildings, especially those with randomrubble types, which are well known for
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SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE
taken to evaluate and improve them.
Similarly, seismically deficient structures
need to be strengthened to reduce their
vulnerability.

Figure 10. A 50000 gallon water tank at Traigaon developed flexure tension cracks in its supporting shaft rendering it unsafe for use.

poor seismic performance. Buildings should

not only meet the functional requirements
of occupants but also essential requirements for sound earthquake-resistant design and construction.
Most residential units in the affected
area relied on load-bearing masonry
walls for seismic resistance. Much of the
damage could be attributed to inferior
construction materials, inadequate support of the roof and roof trusses, poor
wall-to-wall connections, poor detailing
work, weak in-plane wall due to large
openings, out-of-plane instability of
walls, lack of integrity or robustness,
asymmetric floor plans and ageing. Conventional unreinforced masonry laced
with timber performed satisfactorily as
expected as it arrests destructive cracking, evenly distributes the deformation
which adds to energy dissipation capacity of the system, without jeopardizing
its structural integrity and vertical load

carrying capacity. There is an urgent

need to revive these traditional masonry
practices which have proven their ability
to resist earthquake loads, in contrast to
contemporary colonial-style masonry
buildings. The seismic performance of
such masonry systems should be researched and guidelines developed for their
cost-effective implementation which can
optimally exploit their inherent ability to
resist seismic actions.
Modern bridges, roads, water tanks,
etc., which have been constructed in the
Kashmir region without due consideration of high seismic activities of the Himalayan region making such civil
infrastructure extremely vulnerable for
future earthquakes. There is an urgent
need that prevailing standard codes of
practices for earthquake-resistant design
and construction should be adhered to,
and wherever these provisions are deficient, detailed studies should be under-

1. Post-Earthquake Investigation Field Guide:

Learning from Earthquakes, Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute, Oakland,
CA, 1996, Publication No. 96-1, p. 144.
2. Reducing Earthquake Hazards: Lessons
Learned from Earthquakes, Earthquake
Engineering Research Institute, Oakland,
CA, 1986.
3. EERI News Lett., Dec. 2005.
4. Indian Standard Criteria for Earthquake
Resistant Design of Structures: Part 1
General Provisions and Buildings, Bureau
of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 2002,
IS:1893 (Part 1).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank the
numerous officers and staff of IRCON International and Military Engineering Services
(MES) in the affected area who provided help
and support during the field visit. Special
thanks are due to Professor Sudhir K. Jain, IIT
Kanpur, for encouragement and support in
carrying out the reconnaissance studies in one
of the most difficult areas of the country. We
thank DST for financial support.
Received 24 October 2005; revised accepted
17 February 2006

DURGESH C. RAI*
C. V. R. MURTY
Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur 208 016, India
*For correspondence.
e-mail: dcrai@iitk.ac.in

Reassessment of earthquake hazard in the Himalaya and implications

from the 2004 SumatraAndaman earthquake
In earlier accounts of seismicity and longterm forcasting of earthquakes, three
great earthquakes with magnitude 8,
namely 1905 Kangra, 1934 BiharNepal
and 1950 eastern Assam in Himalaya and
a fourth one, i.e. 1897 western Assam
with magnitude Mw 8.0 were recognized13 (Figure 1). Regions between the
rupture zones of these earthquakes were
recognized as seismic gaps4, which were
interpreted to have accumulated potential
1070

slip for generating future great earthquakes4,5. In recent years re-examination

of old recorded data has led to revision
of the magnitudes and rupture zones of
these earlier classified great earthquakes6,7,
with new information being extracted
from the archives for calculating magnitudes of historical earthquakes: 1505,
1803, 1833 and others8. GPS9 and palaeoseismological studies10 have added another dimension to our understanding of

the kinematics of seismogenic faults and

seismotectonics.
The great Kangra earthquake of 4
April 1905 was assigned magnitude 8.1
with its rupture zone extending ~300 km
from Kangra to Dehra Dun1,11. This
magnitude has been recently revised to
Mw 7.8 with rupture extending 90 km
along the strike7; the intensity VIII estimated at Dehra Dun is interpreted as a
separate triggered event. The epicentre of

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 90, NO. 8, 25 APRIL 2006